News and Events

On Sunday, January 19, Bard's Office of Student Activities held it’s inaugural first-year lecture series, Bard Talks, inspired by the widely known TED Talks conferences. Six students presented on a range of topics that showcased social and political issues of global concern, as well as ways to engage with those issues on campus. Topics addressed included malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, food initiatives at Bard, climate change, organ trafficking, and information security. Bard Talks took place in conjunction with the Martin Luther King Day of Service and the Citizen Science program. The event was well attended by students and faculty at the Bito Auditorium in the Reem-Kayden Center.

The metric of gross domestic product, developed in the 1930s and 1940s, leaves out many measures of a nation's progress, write Hunter Lovins and her fellow authors.

Bard participated in the nationwide Martin Luther King Day of Service on Saturday, January 18. More than 300 first-year students—who are on campus for three weeks of Citizen Science courses—marked the occasion by participating in volunteer activities and trainings on campus and at 25 sites in the Hudson Valley. Organized by the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard, events included a social justice workshop for Bard students in the Campus Center, several campus activities for local Girl Scouts led by Bard students, a recycling day for electronic waste in Red Hook, and a junior detectives event at the Tivoli Library.

During the weekend of February 14–16, Bard College will host the third annual Northeast regional C2C Fellows Sustainability Leadership Workshop. Directed by Eban S. Goodstein, director of the Bard Center for Environmental Policy (Bard CEP) and dean of the Bard MBA in Sustainability, the three-day workshop offers training to college students and recent graduates aspiring to become sustainability leaders in politics and business.

Jaime DiPuppo, M.S. '12 is now pursuing a master's in teaching through the American Museum of Natural History as part of a national effort to add 100,000 STEM teachers in the U.S. by 2021.

Ghosts, goblins, and poetry ... Environmental and Urban Studies executive administrator Tom O'Dowd writes about the inspirational Hudson River.

Biology faculty member Bruce Robertson has coauthored a paper showing that perennial grasses can effectively be used as biomass crops while preserving species and ecosystem services. While corn leads biomass crops by yield, that high production comes at a high price for the environment. This research is part of Professor Robertson's ongoing collaboration with the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at Michigan State University.

Read the article in PNAS.

Learn more about the story from the National Science Foundation.

Environmental and urban studies major Jess Lambert '14 came to Bard from the small town of Liberty, New York. As a student representative for the Bard Sustainability Council, she’s committed to improving environmental practices on campus. "I’m glad I found a place that really recognizes the importance of pursuing the work you’re most excited about," she says. "That’s been really empowering for me."

Class of 2003 alumni and freshman dorm-mates Bjorn Quenemoen and Jamie O'Shea have combined their skills in farming and solar energy to create a unique snack.

In the Bardian

When Daniel Pacheco ’07 accepted a job through Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to work in Cambodia, he had no idea that he would end up launching his own sustainable energy company there. “I was interested in solar energy, so started out working on projects with local companies, but they were all very commercial,” he says. “My motivation is not just about making money, but bringing solar energy to villages. Cambodia is a beautiful country. Coming from New York City, it was shocking in a good way. Life can be relaxed without stress. People are generous and friendly. I felt safe, and realized there are lots of opportunities.”

The Venezuelan-born Pacheco, a Distinguished Scientist Scholar and graduate of Bard’s 4+2 engineering program, received a B.A. in economics with a focus on global economic development. He went on to Columbia University to earn his B.S. in mechanical engineering, specializing in renewable energies. Upon graduation, EWB—an international nonprofit organization that partners with developing communities to improve quality of life—offered him a job in Cambodia designing a green building for a school. After leaving that project, he stayed on in the country’s capital, Phnom Penh, for the next four years.

Pacheco’s vision was to distribute solar power systems and bring energy independence to communities throughout Cambodia. He began his venture as a sustainable energy initiative under an established nongovernmental organization (NGO). But once he saw the potential for solar energy, he launched his own company, NRG Solutions, which he started with a Cambodian colleague. “A lot of commercial businesses or NGOs sell or donate solar products to communities, then walk away,” he says. “After a few weeks or months, the products stop functioning, which is how solar gained a reputation for not working.”

Pacheco and his team decided to build trust in the technology and their services through fact-finding, education, and training. They visited every house that had a previously installed solar system, made sure everything worked, collected feedback, then followed up with phone calls. NRG Solutions rolled this procedure into its unique business plan: By focusing on building a network and distributing solar energy and related products to the village, Pacheco was able to help other entrepreneurs with business decisions and microfinancing (small loans and other services to low-income individuals who do not have access to banks), and to create a feedback loop. “We give them access to the technology and business vision, or we do it on consignment, so if the business doesn’t work, they don’t lose money,” he says.

Pacheco says that after getting some great feedback, NRG Solutions started installing systems for larger businesses—schools, hospitals, and community centers—with 10 percent of profits channeled back into microfinance. But Pacheco wants to stay small: “It’s tempting to expand in this field because it’s easier money; we saw other corporations going in this direction. But we were chosen by a business incubator sponsored by the World Bank to select promising small businesses and help them grow.” Pacheco’s aim for 2013 is to reach 2,000 residential solar systems. To assist him in this, he partnered with an Australian social enterprise company, Barefoot Power, which supplies solar products in developing countries, and the nonprofit organization Kiva, whose mission is to alleviate poverty by managing loans.

While Cambodia is a booming economy, the market for solar energy is tricky, says Pacheco, because 80 percent of the country, which doesn’t have access to the grid, depends on kerosene or car batteries for power. Gaining access to these customers presents a challenge. And while product satisfaction has been excellent, he’s taking the next steps slowly. He doesn’t advertise; his company’s buzz travels entirely by word of mouth. “They contact us, we don’t push. We are invited to come into a village and analyze whether it is worth installing solar or not.” On the second visit, Pacheco and his team bring products, offer training and workshops, talk about technology, products, and business opportunities, and leave samples. Two months later, they call for feedback. On the third visit they train entrepreneurs, set them up with a business vision, and teach them about accounting, customer follow-up, marketing, and how to create inventories.

Today, NRG Solutions consists of two project managers in charge of distribution; a French engineer dealing with solar systems; a business development and technical supervisor; and a volunteer from EWB–Australia, who helps with fund-raising. The World Bank assists with strategy and administration. Demand is burgeoning: NRG’s latest projects involve installing solar power in orphanages and clinics and in a school inside the Angkor Wat temple complex, the largest Hindu religious monument in the world. The group is also starting its own line of solar systems that can power TVs and fans.

Politically, Cambodia is still a complex place with much corruption. Pacheco says, “It’s very poor; a lot of money is concentrated with just a few people. We’re also dealing with the first generation to graduate from university since the days of the Khmer Rouge [the ruling Communist Party from 1975 to 1979 that orchestrated country-wide genocide], so the skill levels are low. But it’s actually one of the easiest countries to start a small business in—considering I’m someone with no money, no experience, and no contacts.”

Pacheco took Khmer language classes when he first arrived, but no longer has the time. “Many people speak English, especially in cities,” he says. “Once we get into the villages, not so much English is spoken, but I can get by.” He is out in the field two to three times a month, but is trying to remove himself from the process by hiring and training local technicians. “I see myself here for a few more years and then ideally transferring everything over to Cambodians,” he says. “But it’s hard to make plans. Things happen very quickly here in some ways, and very slowly in others. When you get here you think it’s so messed up, but after four years you realize how quickly everything is changing.”


Read the fall 2013 issue of the Bardian:

When Daniel Pacheco ’07 accepted a job through Engineers Without Borders to work in Cambodia, he had no idea that he would end up launching his own sustainable energy company there. Four years later, he's helping to bring energy independence to communities throughout the country. Working with Cambodian colleagues, Pacheco installs solar in homes, orphanages, and clinics, and makes sure these systems are sustainable for local people in the long term.

By making use of a vast collection of weather data, the San Francisco–based Climate Corporation aims to help farmers manage extreme weather brought on by climate change.

On Thursday, November 14, Tavia Nyong’o—associate professor of performance studies at New York University and Errol Hill Award winner for best book in African American theatre and performance studies—will speak at Bard College. Nyong’o’s talk, “Epistemology of the Lifeboat: Life of Pi and Queer Fabulation,” is being presented by Bard’s Environmental and Urban Studies Program, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, and the Language and Literature Division, with funding from a Bard College, Mellon-supported course development award. The talk takes place at 4:30 p.m. in the Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation Room 103 and is free and open to the public.

The Bard Farm's "genial mastermind" John-Paul Sliva talks with Edible Hudson Valley about community outreach, institutional farming, and running the Hudson Valley's only cranberry bog.

Jennifer Phillips discusses how farms can shift to a pasture model, preventing erosion and sequestering carbon in the process.

Michael Specter looks at science denialism and argues that the world needs scientific progress now more than ever.

Where privatization and charity fail, investments in watershed services can solve the global water crisis, writes CEP alumna Karen Corey.

Norway boasts 63,000 miles of fjords, bays, and islands. Professor Klinkenborg ventures into this remarkable landscape, the most complex coastline on the planet.

Larissa Phillips examines the social, environmental, and parenting implications of hunting for food.